Imagine you are a man living amid the Paleolithic millennia. If you were seeking great rewards from beyond the mortal realm, would you mutilate yourself, or submit to an order of mutilation, to become as much a woman as would be possible to you?

The rise of feminism corresponds roughly with the expansion of the artworld to include women's production. This is a history that began predominantly in impelling women's art as an expression of the identification of women apart from men.